Viking Age Clothing – Annotated Bibliography

Glæsel, Nille. Viking: Dress Clothing Garment. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2010. Print.
http://www.amazon.com/Viking-Clothing-Garment-Nille-Glaesel/dp/1494475227/ref=sr_1_2
– – Considering the dearth of other “Viking” costuming sources this book provides a decent starting point for “Viking” costumers. This book provides patterns with minimal reference to the source of those patterns. As mentioned in the introduction, this would be a good companion book to “Viking Clothing” by Thor Ewing (which provides good background on “Viking” garments but no patterns). The patterns provided here seem to be plausibly period. This book does a good job of offering helpful sewing hints for adding gores and gussets. As a broad overview of various “Viking” relevant topics it does a decent job.

Ewing, Thor. Viking Clothing. Tempus Plublishing Limited: Great Britain, 2006. Print.
http://www.amazon.com/Viking-Clothing-Thor-Ewing/dp/0752435876/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369091030&sr=8-1&keywords=viking+clothing
– – This book does a good job of giving you a background on the clothing they probably wore.. but does a very bad job of giving you pictures/patterns to use to make the clothing described. It’s a good resource to have and at < $30 I'd say to pick it up. That said, Thor Ewing is supposed to be putting together a Viking Pattern book as a practical companion to this book. I'm really looking forward to seeing that book in print.
Ewing, Thor. "‘í litklæðum’ – Coloured Clothes in Medieval Scandinavian Literature and Archaeology". From a paper presented at the 13th International Saga Conference, Durham, England, August 2006. Web.
http://thorewing.net/articles/colouredclothing/clothing.html
- - This article discusses clothing colors as referenced in sagas and then cross refrences those colors with color prevalence in archaeological finds.
Fransen, Lilli, Anna Nørgaard and Else Østergård. Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2011. Print.
http://www.amazon.com/Woven-into-Earth-Textile-Greenland/dp/8772889357/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1369091030
OR http://www.amazon.de/Medieval-Garments-Reconstructed-Clothing-Patterns/dp/8779342981/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1379276920&sr=8-6&keywords=woven+into+the+earth
- - This volume begins with a short introduction by Else Ostergard to the
amazing finds of garments from the Norse settlement of Herjolfnes in
Greenland. It then features chapters on technique - production of the
thread, dyeing, weaving techniques, cutting and sewing - by Anna
Norgard. Also included are measurements and drawings of garments, hoods,
and stockings, with sewing instructions, by Lilli Fransen.
Østergård, Else. Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland. Aarhus University Press: Denmark, 2004. Print.
http://www.amazon.com/Woven-into-Earth-Textile-Greenland/dp/8772889357/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1369091030
- - Woven into the Earth is a -very- detailed archaeological report about the digs in Greenland. "Medieval Garments Reconstructed" (above) is a companion pattern book to "Woven Into The Earth". The only issue is that the finds are actually from 14th century Greenland.. so it's a -real- stretch to say that they're representative of clothing from 10th century Scandinavia. That said.. They are very good resources to have if you're looking to build a library.. and they're both still available in the sub-$50 range. Once they're out of print I expect each of these to go for $200-$300.